The NDC said under the second term of President John Dramani Mahama, the government will review and implement the national policy on Early Childhood Care and Development and broaden parental participation in the implementation of the policy.

These are contained in the NDC manifesto dubbed: “Changing lives and Transforming Ghana,” which was made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA).  The analysis of the manifesto is part of the GNA’s project, “GNA Tracks Election 2016,” which seeks to sensitise the electorate on the various issues raised by political parties, elections management body and other governance institutions.

The GNA 2016 project also seeks to ensure gender and social inclusion in national politics and to provide voice for the youth, vulnerable groups, opinion leaders and the broader spectrum of the society, as well as contribute its quota to the achievement of a peaceful poll in December.

Another objective of the GNA project is to create a platform to disect the manifestos of all political parties and provide in-depth analysis of each thematic area to the electorate to enable them to make an informed judgment.

According to the NDC document, it will strengthen collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Department of Social Welfare in the provision of pre-school and kindergarten education including the training of teachers. The NDC said it continued to allocate more resources for the rehabilitation and construction of kindergarten facilities throughout the country; establish special schools in designated Colleges of Education to train teachers solely for Early Childhood Care and Development.

On Primary and Junior High School Education, the NDC said the next government under President Mahama will complete the process of eliminating the remaining public schools under trees, and abolish the shift system countrywide. It would also continue with the provision of free school uniforms, free exercise books and free footwear for needy pupils; expand the School Feeding Programme to all public basic schools in rural and peri-urban communities; review the Capitation Grant and ensure an improvement in Special Needs Education.

It added that the next NDC government will continue to facilitate the acceleration of ICT education by training more teachers in the subject area; continue the supply of computers to basic schools and establish ICT laboratories for selected schools.

The government will work with the Ghana Education Service to reintroduce civic education (including introduction to the Constitution of Ghana) into the basic school curricula; and pilot the use of electronic textbooks (e-books) using tablets.

On Second Cycle Education, the Manifesto said it intended to complete the construction of the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools; expand the progressively free SHS programme to cover boarding students with emphasis on needy students and review the Computer Selection for Schools Programme to make it more effective and equitable.

On Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), the NDC said it will implement the second phase of the Skills Development Fund to provide grants to over 120 private sector businesses to upgrade skills and acquire innovative modern technology to enhance their productivity.

“We will encourage more girls to select TVET as a career option; Improve linkage between TVET and industry; Increase capacity for technical training; 30 per cent of the new community senior high schools will be fitted with technical workshops and facilities to offer technical and vocational programmes.

“Appoint a Deputy Minister with primary responsibility for TVET and technical education at all levels; align vocational training properly under the Ministry of Education to enable better supervision; Ensure that the new Technical Universities maintain their core mandate of science and technology training,” the NDC stated.

It said the party will continue the implementation of the Ghana TVET Voucher Project to support the training of 25,000 Master Craft persons and apprentices in productive skills in the Volta, Greater Accra and Northern Regions.  The next NDC government will also accelerate the agenda to make technical and vocational education attractive for young people to acquire employable skills; rebrand and strengthen TVET so that it becomes attractive to high-performing Students.

“We will continue to equip and retool the TVET institutions with requisite facilities; and establish 50 Community Centres for Integrated Skills Development (COCISD),” the document stated.